


Not Like That

by unknown_knowns



Series: The One Good Thing in Seattle (Side stories) [3]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Nathan POV, inner-demons, max and nate are bi not gay, minor TW on nathan's language, representation is important kids, think it qualifies as gaynst actually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-18 08:36:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8155870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknown_knowns/pseuds/unknown_knowns
Summary: Max snoops.Nathan will tell her anything she wants to know.She’s earned it.Except that.That will take more convincing.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, Friends.
> 
> I wrote this to study Nathan’s character a bit more.
> 
> This was another scene that I cut pretty early on in the process of writing [“Diametrically Opposed”](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8027380/chapters/18380305). While I quite liked developing Nathan’s character in the story, his love life wasn’t really plot-relevant and it felt pretty out-of-place. Also, there’s a lot of falling in lesbians there, so I wasn’t sure if it was “mixing the streams” so to speak.
> 
> So it ended up here!
> 
> Chronologically, this occurs between chapter 3 and 4.
> 
> In case you’re just haunting the Warren/Nathan relationship tag and aren’t caught up to DO, this occurs in a slight AU where Victoria and Max are girlfriends and Max is much closer to Nathan as a result. You can see a bit more of the Max/Nathan friendship dynamic in ["Long Hair Is Better"](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8085853).
> 
> As always, I appreciate comments!

Nathan sat easily on the steps outside one of the dorms.

He didn’t really care which one it was.

The dorm wasn’t the reason he was here, right now.

He sat as he often liked to do, with his legs spread, hunched over, and a soda gripped loosely in one of his hands.

He was looking out into the grassy fields.

There was a friendly, casual game of tag football being played.

The rules were more loose and it was more to kill time than any serious competition, so it was one of the situations where the more jock-y members of the school didn’t mind playing with some of the not-jocks.

Nathan was watching them play.

He didn’t really have anything else to do, right now.

He had a party tonight, but not now.

No one wanted to do them in the afternoon.

They had classes or other bullshit. Lives. That’s what one of his asshole friends had said once.

He heard the door into the dorm behind him opening.

He didn’t care.

At first, anyway.

In his peripheral vision, he saw Max start to walk down the steps.

But she paused when she noticed him.

She then looked to where his gaze was, and back to him.

She crossed her arms and pursed her lips slightly.

That was the look she had when she wanted to snoop.

He didn’t engage with her yet, despite being fully cognizant of her presence.

He was really fuckin’ good at seeing things from his peripheral vision.

He just kept looking forward.

Staring.

He took a sip of his soda.

She could come fuckin’ to him if she wanted to talk.

Max sighed, and gave up trying to get his attention this way.

She came over and plopped herself down on the steps next to him.

That’s a good girl.

But he still didn’t engage.

It was sometimes amusing to watch her try and figure out if he was actually paying attention or not.

He really ought to move or something. These fuckin’ steps were made out of the worst kind of concrete.

His ass was sore now.

“Nathan.”

“Max.”

She groaned.

“You made me flounder.”

“I did.”

She crossed her arms and pouted.

It was fuckin’ cute but he wasn’t going to be tugged by it.

“What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing? Fuckin’ nothing.”

Max frowned.

“ _Nate_.”

It was his turn to groan, now. He put his soda down between his legs and looked towards her, finally.

“Alright, jeez, chill. I’m killing time. Them playing football is more interesting than watching the paint dry in V’s room. So I’m here.”

Max narrowed her eyes slightly.

She looked to the field, back to him, and back to the field again.

“You’re looking at Warren.”

He scoffed.

Max thought she knew a lot of things.

She _did_ know a lot of things, but this wasn’t one of the things she did know.

Not that easily.

“I’m lookin’ at a lot of them. What’s it to you?”

She frowned.

“I’ve never seen you be with anyone.”

He rolled his eyes, looked back to the field, and picked up his soda to start drinking it again.

“You’ve never been to my parties.”

Her frown deepened.

“What does that mean?”

He kept looking towards the field.

“I’m with lots of people. Don’t always fuckin’ remember it later but it’s fun while it lasts.”

She sighed severely and closed her eyes, raising a hand up to rub at her forehead.

“That’s _not_ what I _mean_.”

He grinned dangerously.

“It’s what _I_ mean, though. You’ve got a nice cutesy thing going on with V. That shit ain’ for me.”

She inched a bit closer.

“What do you mean?”

His expression fell slightly.

“It’s not obvious? Who the fuck wants to be with me? Twitchy asshole?”

“ _Nate!_ ”

He groaned.

“Don’t you fuckin’ ‘ _Nate’_ me about this one, maxi. Think whatever hippy-dippy-dykey bullshit you want but it ain’ me.”

She flinched, then she was quiet for a while.

He liked the quiet.

Nathan always liked the look she had on when she was concentrating on thinking and not just spacing out idly.

 

Eventually,

“You didn’t say you _weren’t_ looking at him.”

“And?”

“So you are.”

He took another sip from his soda.

She wasn’t letting this go.

She could know if she wanted to, that badly.

“Yeah.”

She frowned.

“This was a party thing, too?”

“Duh.”

She sighed.

“I’ve _seen_ you staring at him before, Nathan. Don’t try and play this off as a one-night stand.”

He frowned, now.

He carefully put his soda down to peer at her.

“’Tori’s seen it too. We think it’s adorable.”

“Well I’m fuckin’ glad I can be so cute to you, then.”

“ _Nate_. You know we don’t mean it like ---”

He grunted sharply.

“I know _exactly_ what women think of fags, don’t you start.”

Max always flinched when he used certain words. He couldn’t really figure which ones, but it was kinda annoying sometimes.

Max was getting better about his language but she was still too up-tight.

“And it’s bullshit anyway. I’m not gay. I’m bisexual. So shove it.”

He looked back to the field.

They were taking a break, now.

Max looked up to the sky.

Probably doing that counting shit again.

It’s fine.

He liked the quiet.

Without her fuckin’ snooping.

But if she wanted know, whatever.

Telling her things was the least he could do.

She earned so much more for how happy she made V.

She could have a detailed log of all of the shit he did at parties for all he cared.

It’d probably scandalize the shit out of her dykey ---

“I am too.”

_What._

Nathan snapped his head to her so fast it just about snapped his neck.

His eyes narrowed and his face became more severe.

“Don’t you joke about this shit.”

“I’m _not._ ”

Her voice was steeled. There was zero trace of humor in her expression or her prosody.

Nathan grunted.

“You never told me.”

Nathan grumbled.

Max smiled gently.

“You never asked.”

“Fuckin’ … comedian, I got you.”

He rolled his eyes and looked back forward.

She shifted closer still and rubbed at his arm.

He fuckin’ hated it when she did that.

But he also kind of liked it.

He knew he needed it sometimes. She knew, too.

It relaxed him whenever he’d get a bit too severe.

Max sighed again.

It was deep.

She spoke very gently.

“Look. Nate. I used to like Warren too, okay? He’s my friend now. You’re my friend now, too. I want to make sure my friends are happy. You might be the kind of type to have one night-stands but I _know_ Warren isn’t.”

He kept his expression neutral.

“So fuckin’ what?”

But she kept rubbing in that calming manner at his arm. She moved a bit closer.

He sighed softly and looked to the sky.

There wasn’t anything for him there, but, whatever.

His voice was softer when he looked back down.

There was less edge on his facial features when he looked at her.

“Alright, fine, so he’s a needy pussy. And maybe I really liked that night. Doesn’t matter. Dude’s straight as an arrow. Wouldn’t do shit without being totally fucked-up first.”

Max frowned.

“Maybe he only thought you’d like him if he was drunk, first. That’s kind of your crowd. And I think drinking helps his confidence and nerves a little bit.”

Max hesitated slightly, but she had to know,

“He didn’t start talking to you until he finished drinking, right? It’s not like you were feeding him drinks.”

Nathan grunted.

Max was too pure about getting laid, sometimes. Whatever. That’s not what happened, anyway.

“No, I didn’t feed him drinks, I’m not that thirsty, jeez.”

He grumbled lowly and looked down.

Max had a fucking point and he hated it.

Max wasn’t this convincing usually, she had to have been practicing this one.

Was it that obvious? If Space Cadet Master General could sniff it out?

He looked back up.

“What do you want out of me?”

She pulled her hand away from his arm. He probably looked calm enough to placate her weird “make Nathan look normal” fetish.

“I want you to be happy. You see how happy ‘Tori is around me and how happy I am around her? You don’t have to be lonely, either.”

He grunted.

Of course he knew how happy V was.

That wasn’t for him.

“Life ain’ some fairy tale, lady. He could ---”

“--- And it _wasn’t easy,_ Nathan. We fought all of the time. We didn’t talk for years. We have issues. We’re working through them, because it’s worth it. You don’t luck into something like that at the bottom of a beer can. You have to keep trying and working at something if you want real happiness.”

Nathan groaned loudly and placed his hands over his eyes. He applied pressure and dragged them down until his hands fell to loose fists by his side.

Max was definitely fucking practicing this speech earlier and V was probably helping her too.

They weren’t going to let this go, easily.

He considered his options.

 

Eventually,

“Fine, whatever, you win. Warren’s thirsty. I’m thirsty. Get it over with. Got it.”

Max smiled pleasantly.

Of course she wanted to hear her snooping was fruitful.

“And he’s done playing football, now, so you can stop being a thirsty creep and go talk to him.”

Nathan’s hackles raised.

He shot her a glare.

“I am _not_ a cre ---“

But Max was ready for this, too, and eagerly cut him off.

“You’ve just been quietly watching him do things for a week now. It’s pretty creepy, Nathan.”

Fuck.

Fine, fuck, shit, whatever.

Talking to Max was infuriating sometimes.

But, if he thought about it, he knew she was right.

He hated it, but she was right.

“So you’re going to stop being creepy and go talk to him now. Come on.”

“What with ---“

Max had already gotten up and was walking towards Warren.

Warren was relaxing under a tree.

Fucking.

Ugh.

He stood up, kicked his damn empty can as far as it would go because _fuck recycling_ and shoved his hands into his pockets.

He caught up to Max as she made her way over to Warren.

Warren immediately got up when Max was within earshot and they exchanged pleasant greetings.

Warren always had on dorky fuckin’ shirts and today was no exception.

Some bird carrying … a coconut?

It’s a simple question of weight ratios?

It had to be some kind of dorky fuckin’ joke but it went right over Nathan’s head.

One of Warren’s stupid movies, probably.

Max inexplicably shoved Nathan in the ribs.

He grunted. She was a pipsqueak and he hardly felt it, but, still.

Right, he needed to talk, too.

Talking is what normal people did.

He was probably just staring.

Creepily.

“Warren. I want to talk about … last Friday.”

Nathan kept his voice as flat as he could. He looked straight on at Warren.

Max told Nathan about his eyes once. They did a thing or something.

He told her to shove it, then.

But he at least _tried_ to listen to her.

He didn’t want to scare Warren off already with his weirdness.

Warren blinked about a thousand times and laughed a high-pitched nervous thing.

He quickly looked between Nathan and Max.

For her part, Max had a stupid smug grin on her face, turned on her heel, and walked right off.

Nathan wasn’t surprised in the slightest by now.

Warren watched her go off, speechless.

Or at least, he didn’t have a _coherent_ speech.

“I … she … you … this! What?!”

Warrant gestured uselessly but emphatically with his hands as he struggled for words.

His face was full of all kinds of conflicted emotions.

Most of them were pretty cute.

Nathan sighed.

Warren must have not been that exposed to Max’s snooping if this was alarming to him.

But his horribly exaggerated motions were pretty endearing.

“She does that some times. Friday. _Focus_.”

Warren sighed, and crossed his arms.

“Okay, fair, I guess she does. What about Friday? Your party, right?”

He hesitated.

Nathan noticed.

Warren wasn’t trusting him.

“I drank way too much. I don’t remember anything.”

Nathan frowned.

“Are you sure about that?”

Warren frowned as well.

He squirmed.

He couldn’t meet Nathan’s eyes.

What else was new. Fuckin’ no one could except V and Max.

“What’s it to you?”

Nathan hesitated.

Max would never stop giving him shit about this unless he just dealt with the problem.

Fine. Whatever. He wasn’t a fuckin’ pussy.

“More than you think. Now… are you _sure_ about that?”

Warren sighed deeply, uncrossed his arms, and put his hands in his pockets.

He kicked at some grass.

“No... I’m not sure... I remember... I guess…”

There was zero confidence in his voice. He looked anywhere but in Nathan’s direction.

Nathan smiled.

“Good.”

Warren laughed nervously again.

But he smiled afterwards.

Nathan could get used to that nervous laughing.

It was endearing.

 

They made plans.

Nathan wanted to continue at his party tonight.

Warren wanted a movie double-date with Victoria and Max.

Warren really wanted to see how Victoria handled his recommendations and how Max handled horror movies since he just could not picture her doing anything but squealing and hiding in Victoria the entire time.

Nathan decided they could to that.

Then they would go to the party.

It would be nice, maybe, to have a date coming with him, instead of just leaving with one.

It would be nice.

If he said it enough to himself, then it would be.


End file.
